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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26228134">Poppy Red</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/flannelblues/pseuds/flannelblues'>flannelblues</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Begin to heal [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Criminal Minds (US TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Animal Death, Autistic Spencer Reid, Episode: s02e15 Revelations, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Trauma</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:54:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,165</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26228134</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/flannelblues/pseuds/flannelblues</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgan gets a phone call in the middle of the night.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Derek Morgan &amp; Spencer Reid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Begin to heal [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904956</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>198</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Poppy Red</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I’m on Blue Hill Street, can- can you come pick me up? Please?” Morgan hears Reid’s muffled voice through his flip-phone and takes a glance at his alarm clock, the red digits telling him it’s now two in the morning. Despite knowing that he needs to be up in a mere five hours, Morgan can’t bring himself to be annoyed at being woken up on a Wednesday night.</p><p>“Coming now, kid. I can’t stay on the phone while I’m driving but I’ll be there in five, cool?” He’s balancing the phone between his cheek and shoulder as he pulls his thick brown coat on and grabs a spare one, just in case. He hears Reid hum in affirmation before he hangs up and briskly walks to his car.</p><p>There aren’t a lot of street lights in the area, as it’s mostly residential, so Morgan has to squint to see Reid curled in on himself next to the gutter, wearing nothing but a pair of loose chinos and a navy blue t-shirt. Morgan parks his car a few metres away and Reid doesn’t even look at him as he gets out of the car.</p><p>He’s shivering and his right leg is bouncing. Morgan pulls a coat around his frail body and puts a hand on his shoulder. “What’re you doin’ out here, man?” <br/>Reid keeps his eyes trained in front of him but seems to relax slightly from the warmth of Morgan’s coat. “I um- I went to take a walk ‘cause I couldn’t sleep but-” He moves his legs closer to his chest. “-There’s a dead cat, and I just..”</p><p>Morgan looks to Reid’s left and a few metres away, he sees what his friend’s talking about. There’s a red burmese lying stiffly on its side in the dewy grass. You could almost think it was simply asleep if it weren’t for the blood caking its short fur. Morgan winces. He’s well aware that they see dead bodies all the time, but he knows animals dying always seem to hit Reid especially hard. “How long have you been sitting here?” They’re both looking at the cat. It has a white collar with rainbow polka dots.</p><p>“I don’t know, I left my apartment at around eleven I think.” Reid’s voice is wobbling and Morgan takes a sharp inhale, it’s freezing and he’s been out here for hours. They sit in the cold, dark silence for a moment before Reid speaks up again.“Do you think anyone’s looking for him?” He sounds like he’s choking and Morgan’s heart feels heavy in his chest.</p><p>Morgan had a cat once, creatively named Simba, back in Chicago. He didn’t want it though, always being more of a dog person. It was Sarah’s, really. But since she was always having sleepovers at her friend’s house down the street he ended up being the one feeding it more often than not. He remembers standing at the back door, shouting its name and shaking the bag of cat food one late night in November. The cat never came back that night and his sisters had both cried and cried about it the next morning.</p><p>A week later, however, Simba was scratching on the door in the late afternoon. He’d been fed by one of the neighbors who thought he was a stray.</p><p> Morgan doesn’t answer him, and Reid shuts his eyes tightly, turning away from the cat. Standing up, Morgan walks over and then leans down on one knee next to the cat, gently turning over and checking the engraving on its collar, just a simple name accompanied by the landline number of the owner. He almost vomits when he sees it’s named Tobias. </p><p>“Is there a phone number?” Reid’s looking up at him, biting his lip, and Morgan nods, hoping he doesn’t ask if there’s a name. “Can we call them?”</p><p>“Reid. It’s two in the morning. They’d be asleep.”<br/>“Please?” His voice breaks and there’s a long pause before Morgan dials the number on the collar. He hears the phone ring for about twenty seconds before a light in the second story of a house down the street turns on. </p><p>“Hello?” A man with a groggy voice answers, not even trying to hide his irritation.</p><p>“Hey uh, I’m at fifty-eight Blue Hill and I think I found your cat on the side of the road. He’s dead.” Morgan instantly regrets his bluntness and digs his heel into the ground. A few seconds pass before the man on the other end takes a deep breath.</p><p>“Shit, it’s my kid’s cat.” He hears the man run a hand through his hair. “Thanks for calling me. I’ll come get him.” </p><p>“I’m sorry, sir.” The man only hangs up in response and Morgan turns back to Reid, who still has a strange empty look on his face.</p><p>There’s barely a cloud in the night sky. Moonlight casts strange shadows on Reid’s face and his eyes look sunken in. Morgan has to take him home but can’t leave him alone with a good conscience.</p><p>“Come on, you’re coming back to my place for the night.” He extends a hand out to Reid, who takes it without protest and pushes himself off the ground, his other hand death-gripping the coat. Reid takes one look back at the cat before stumbling into Morgan’s car.</p><p>Time-wise, the drive back to Morgan’s is pretty short. But the feeling of something akin to tension is thick in the air as Reid stares out the window. The radio’s playing softly, it’s just a pop music station, which neither of them really like, but Morgan figures it’s a better option than dead silence. </p><p>-</p><p>They’re sitting on his couch watching infomercials when Reid finally falls asleep. Morgan pulls a dark blue blanket over his friend and turns off the TV. Reid’s clinging to a cushion and still has tear tracks on his face. Without the button-up shirts and ties, he looks so much younger and it’s almost jarring. </p><p>He’d turned twenty-five a month back and been flustered when he opened the envelope Garcia gave him to not only find a personalized birthday card but a full packet of pink glitter falling out onto the front of his trousers and deeply embedding itself in the carpet below. Complaining in a rush about how he’s never going to get it out of his clothes but still giving his team a wide grin before batting Morgan’s hand away after he tried to ruffle his hair.</p><p>Five days later, Reid and JJ went to talk to a witness while on a case.</p><p>Morgan thinks back to the cat, and wonders if Reid would’ve had as strong a reaction if it’d happened before Georgia. Scratching the back of his neck, he slowly and quietly walks back to his room and drops down on the bed. He knows he only has two hours left before it’s time to get ready for work, but he still can’t bring himself to sleep.</p>
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